Lens chuck



Aug. 7, 1945. v

LENS CHUCK F l' d Jan. 29, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet l 8 l 4 7 .2 B Z 3 ai /w, "1w 4 n m A. m w u U u z w W 6 7 a 9 3 Z 3 2 M WiLLlAM P. CANRING INVENTOH A RWY v Patented Aug. '7, 1945 WillianrPtCanni etts a Q i ir qpr cpnstru A esp-as to lacil'l p (1 g 'l se operation hi i in'an' el 'ement l f -tail? p ed e m mb r eredals-a limitation as duii'ralent'parts maybe utilized without; depart ng'fi pn'i" he s'pin "the invention as set'f th "s 'joinjed claims; 'Injthedrawing 1e; m me-machine; n substantially along' lines chu ick withthe wn'm full l nes;

t. 3 i 2- d de' View" partially broken hownin section.

.th located in each of the positioning pin guides l3 o'fth lens chuck *the lens'chuck i slsouthbr-idge, Ma i h v' Amemm'opfical n southbriage;

-2 a; v untary association of, Massachm a v n pl ic I merges, 194g,- e at 428313 n. .Ciaimsfi (oisit-iilfY f M g I 2 A I M fro ionof a lens blocking chine of ,the general type as set forth'in the patent. tof'Llo'yd "W. 'G'oddu,-Patent Number 2,25'3;954,"issuedAugust 26; 1941-, is shown having atniickche dfin aholder a abovea base portion 10. "The presentinvention' utilizesthe chuck 8 for a"blockingmachine or the like wherein the lens'chuckof the general class referred to in the Goddu application may be employed.

InFig's. 2 and 'L the lens chuck 8 has a main body portion llg which has four-positioning pin slots T2 on one end thereof with four positioning pin guidesl3 onfthe other end thereof. Across sectional view in Fig. 3 shows that the positionv ing pin guides ltare'spaced equidistant onthe chuck. "The positioning pin guidesw are aligned with the positioning pin slots 12. The positioniiig pins!!! are unitalry'members having'alens contactingportionfli on thebottom portion thereof with 'a' spring engaging portion I6 011 c other 'endithereof; 'A verticalhole centrally receivesj the lens contacting portion I5 while the springengaging' portion 16 has-a spring stud II on the upper endthereoi? Without .the spring, it will'beseenthat'the positioning pin M which comprises the twopor-tion's 16' and I515 free to move up and down'in the positioning pin slot 12 and the'posit'ioning pin'guides 13. A cap 20 is V secured to theupper end of the main chuck body ll by screws l9 whichare threa'dedly connected into the" solid portion between the equidistant s aced positioning 'pin "slots l2. Spring studs 2"!" are secured. to the ca'pzfl by any convenient means, "wi' h'said spring studs being disposed in thepositionin'g pin slot;

spring fl3',l v vhich}is an expanding spring, has its vopposingends engaging" thespring studs H and 2| respectivelyso lthat under the expandingaction oi, the spring Hi, the positioning pin shoulder 22 is urged against the positioning pin guide shoulder 231st: that normally the positioning pins-are fully v distended :so that the positioning pinjshoulder 22 will normally engage the positioningy-pin guide shoulder-23. In Fig. 7, it will be more =Clear1y seen, iiom the cross section taken along. IiIIesT- -TI {of .Fig. v2 that the, positioning pin: 14 has its ":spring' engaging portion IS in the positioning pin-slot .12. v o o v :A cannning collar is slid over the end. of the main-body portion: until it engages the positioning pinguide shoulders--25; The bodycollar 2B is slid over theiniain body portion until the lower end ofithe'body'collar 2s engages'the cainming collar'jz i; with said body collar 26 being secured to the main bodyjlil 'by 'means'flof headless set screws 21 (Fig hich holdthe body collar in position on the main body'of the chuck.

cg ""The' collar'. 2fl"is"held between the positioningpin guide shoulder 25 and the lower edge of the tuyeo11srze,;but the camming collar 24 is fretorotate-"sothat it may rotate its camming surfaces to look its positioning pins 14 an the lens holding fingers 28.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the unitary vpositioning pins are now slidably located with one portion of each pin.:m.the positioning pin guides l3 and the opposite endiof each pin" in the positioning pin slots l2,"while the cam-ming collar is rotatably held between the positioning pin guide shoulders 25 and the body collar 26. Referring to Figs. 3 and 6, a-spool 29 has shoulders 35 on either end thereof. A wedge 31 has a openingsl r; the inainjchliok'body l'l between the positiQning pir gui des I3. Figs. '2:and3,1 the wedge-spool guides 33 may be seen located within theishquldqrs ofthespoolf sna'extesdmg outward-ly so thatthe wedge pin 34 will engage the inclined .wedge cam 35. It will gthereforebe seentthat all four ofi the wedge cam ins 34 each.

view shown in Fig. 5. In Fig. 5, the lens contact- 'ing portion l of the positioning pin I4 is shown extending through the positioning pin guide l3.

The stud 4| has a head 41 with an aperture therein oi' about'the same size as the aperture for engageits respective wedge cam 35, fso that a rotation oi the lemming collar will. c'ausethe wedge oainpins 341129 simultaneously raise or lower the wedg-es B l and, the spool 29. "Inc spool is fr ely sli ablfi w th nth 91 6 1 3110f themain mama. and. h ina t o .o the spool w assistgip lreeping the e ges all in? alignment so that thejlqc ognleposaionmgpms and their respectivellen holdingfingrs will be'simul' taneous 6d 17m pressure,"

Lillie, lens holding fingers 2 8 aremade' of' spring metal urging inwardly and arel'oc'ated in finger slots 38 and arefse'c'ured" thereto by screws 89.

*i l'tiee ends or the'l'ens homingnngers-za; more clearly shown in Fig, extenddownwardly-"and have an arm portion 40 which has a'slot44there" inf'which 'sl'ot fits overthe locking stud-4i. On the end'ofeach'of thefingers-ZBis aprotuberance 4'2whioh hasa rubber-"coveri g 43*.

-""Thecamming'collar 24; has a; series of finger cams-'"45 'which areclearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4; The fingers 28*which are ofresilient material, are norm-allyurged inwardly against the finger cams 4B so-that-When'the cam-collar=24 is in the posi--;

tion shown in Fig. 3, thefingers are in. their innermost position towardthe center ofthe chuck. .By rotating the finger cams 45,-bythe handle 46, in a counter clockwise movementinFig. 3, the fingers 28 will be moved outwardlyiromthe center. of the chuck. 11A. handle 46. is threadedly connected to the. camming collar 24\to....rotate. same; It. will therefore .be seen that when the. handle 46 is rotated.,.thewedges.3 I. will have their wedge caml receiving the positioning pin in the positioning to the left of the wedge while a spring washer is lm atedfto the left of the'fiat washer. A nut. and washer 5 ltand'52 respectively are located tothe 'leftl'oi the fiat washer.

It. will be see'n'that when the nut 51. is properly adjusted on .theJscrew portion 48 so that the spring washer 50; places the proper tension on the locking combination of parts; the various components as shown, in Fig. 5' will be securely held in position.

A, y In operation, a. countereclockwise movement of the handle 46 in. Fig. 3,. will cause. the camming collar 24' to be. rotated so that the wedge action of the wedgeportion 32 will act against the spring Washer 50 so that the wedge portion 32 will tend to move the; stud4lto the left. thereby drawing theright hand portion, of thestud head to the left and againstv the positioning pin. so that the positioningpin is. securely gripped in the particular. locationin whichi-tis disposed at the time of the-locking, while simultaneously the. wedge will r0'rc ne finger 28 against the positioning pin guide. l sso thatv the finger will alsoibelocked simultaneously with the locking of-the positioning D1115. l Y i 1 V A coverffl fitsover the upper portion of the finger assembly. andthe" wedge assembly, which coverissecuredto the body collar 26 by means of screws. 55.- Slots. are out in thecover 54 at the lower.- end thereof opposite the fingers, sothat the normal sprin'g. action of the fingers may urge the fingers outwardl throughthe. slots 56 in the lower portionoij the coverto permita wlderrange of spreading between thefingers while providing maximum covering by the cover 54..

From the foregoing, it will be seenthat the lens chuck may be 'Bll'lDlOXCdlll a lens, holding device of the classsetiorthinthe aforementioned Goddu patent. A semi-finished lens blank will be positioned below the lens chuck so" that the positional factors of the finished prescriptive power which the. lens is .to. possess may: be determined in positioning the semi'Pfinished-lens' before itiis gripped bythe lensohuck. The semi-finished lens, before being gripped by thechuck is positionedso that the prism and cylinder axis and the extent of pins stengage the Wedge cam 35 sothat thev Wedges.mari e..mo ec up a d wnim l neousl-y .the rotation offthe camming collar 24 lm he n ersnltq 19. m a d ut as the wedgesmove down andup -.The move 'me ntoi the wedges 3] in ajdownwardmanner as shown in Figs; 4 and 5 will act to lockthe same is a determining; iaeto r' in the position of the lensbefore it lsigrippedby the lens chuck.

After the lens istproperly positionedlin the lens holding device in which therlchuck is. used, the lens;chuckis loweredover the unfinished surface of the lens under treatment." The-lens chuck is lowered sufiiciently s'o'lthat auteur." o'f the pins ay en gage the lens whereby theme-are moved depending upon the. uppercurvature oi theflens' at the pomt-of contact by the lens'contaoting portlon of the positioning pins with the" lens. The

movement of the handle 46 on the lens chuck will permit the fingers to be released so that they have and its holder is swung around so that it is located over a lens block which is covered with pitch. The lens chuck is then lowered over the lens block so that the lens will be secured to the lens block by pitch or other adhesive, the position of the lens on the lens block being determined by the position of the lens when it was gripped by the chuck. The chuck holds the lens in the particular position on the pitch of the lens block until the pitch becomes sufiiciently hard to permit the lens to be adhered to the lens block so that the chuck'may be removed. After the removal of the chuck, the lens is held to the block and thereafter ground and polished as required.

From the foregoing, it should be clear that the positioning pins and lens gripping fingers will be simultaneously operated by a single manipulation of a lever, thereby eliminating the element of human error by failure to look any of the positioning pins which was necessary in the art heretofore. I

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A lens holding device of the class described comprising a main; support, a plurality of pin members slidably mounted in said main support, means for urging said pin members in a given direction, a plurality of resilientlymounted dependent members, a camming collar rotatably mounted on said main support, locking means for said pin members and said dependent members, and camming means on said camming collar for simultaneously locking said pin members and said dependent members in a predetermined position.

2. A holding device of the class described for holding a lens in a predetermined position comprising a main body having a plurality of pin guide members, a pin slidably mounted in each of said guide members, a locking mechanism for each of said pins, a plurality of resilient members for gripping a lens and unitary operable means for simultaneously locking all of the pins and the plurality of resilient lens gripping members in a predetermined position.

3. A chuck of the class described for holding articles of the character of lenses'comprising a main support, a plurality of slidable pins resiliently mounted on saidmain support, a plurality of fingers resiliently mounted on said main support and unitary operable means for simultaneously looking all of said slidable pins and all of said resilient fingers in a predetermined position.

4. A lens chuck of the class described for holding articles of the character of lenses comprising a main support, a plurality of pin members slidably' mounted in said main support, resilient means for urging said pin members in 'a given direction, a plurality of dependent fingers mounted on said main support and resiliently urging the free ends thereof toward the longitudinal axis of the main support, locking means for said pin members and said dependent members, and means for simultaneously operating said locking means for locking said pin members and said dependent members in a predetermined position.

5. Aims holding device of the class described for holding a lens in a predetermined position comprising a main support, pin members slidably and resiliently mounted in said main support, resilient means secured to the main support for engaging the peripheral edge of a lens, a locking mechanism including a wedging member for lock ing each of thepin members and the resilient means in a predetermined position, and means for operating the wedging members to simultaneously lock the pin members and the resilient means by a single lever action. l

6. A lens holding device of the class described for holding a lens in a predetermined position comprising a main support, pin members slidably and resiliently mounted in said main support, resilient members secured to the main support for engaging the peripheral edge of a lens, a

locking-mechanism including a wedging member for locking each of the pinvmembers and the resilient members in a predetermined position, and

camming means for simultaneously operating the individual wedging members to simultaneously lock the pin members and the resilient members.

7. A lens holding device of the class described for holding a lens in a predetermined position comprisinga main support including pin guide means, pin members slidably mounted in said guide means,resilient members mounted on said main support, a camming collar mounted on said support intermediate said pin members and said resilient members, locking means for locking said pin members and said resilient'members, and cam means on said. camming collar for simultaneously looking or releasing the pin members and resilient members.

8. A lens holding device of the class described 40 for holding a lens in a predetermined position comprising a main support including pin guide means, pin members slidably mounted in said guide means, resilient members mounted on said main support, a camming collar mounted on said support intermediate said pin members and said resilient members, locking means for locking said pin members and said resilient members, cam means on said camming collar for simultaneously locking or releasing the pin members and resilient members, and a cover for a portion of said resilient members and said locking means, said cover having slots therein to permit the movement of the resilient members in the slots.

9. A device of the character described comprising a support having a plurality ofcontact members adjustably carried thereby for engagin the side surface of a lens and having a plurality ofholding fingers adjustably carried thereby for engaging the edge surface of said lens and locking mechanism carried by said support and having adjustable binding portions associated with each of saidrespective contact members and each of said respective holding fingers and a unitary operable member having portions associated with said respective binding portions for simultaneously operating all of said binding portions to in turn look all of said contact members and fingers in adjusted position by a single manipulation of said unitary operable member.

' WILLIAM P. CANNING. 

